Keep  for  Reference 


HAND  BOOK 

FOR 

CORPORATE  MEMBERS 

AMERICAN  BOARD  OF 
COMMISSIONERS  FOR 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


BOSTON 

1915 


HAND  BOOK 

FOR 

CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


Issued  By 

AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS 
FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


BOSTON 

CONGREGATIONAL  HOUSE 

1915 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  BY-LAWS 

Duties  of  Members.  Inasmuch  as 
membership  in  this  corporation  is  not  an 
honor  merely,  hut  is  a  trust  which  cannot 
he  discharged  without  labor  and  sacrifice; 
therefore,  every  member  shall  be  considered 
as  pledged  to  perform  its  duties,  and  espe¬ 
cially  to  be  a  constant  attendant  at  the 
meetings  of  the  Board,  whenever  such 
attendance  is  possible.  Absentees  are 
expected  to  send  to  the  Recording  Secretary 
letters  giving  the  reasons  for  their  absence. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

The  Name  of  the  Board . 5 

What  the  American  Board  Stands  for . 6 

The  Old  Board  and  the  New . 10 

Organization  and  Administration . 12 

Keeping  Informed . 13 

Publicity . 18 

Prayer  for  the  Missionaries . 18 

Attendance  upon  Annual  Meetings . 20 

The  Young  People’s  and  Educational  Department  .  20 

Personal  Contributions . 23 

Regular  and  Special  Gifts . 24 

Legacies . 25 

Conditional  Gifts  . 27 

The  Apportionment  Plan . 27 

Leadership  in  the  Local  Church . 29 

Leadership  in  Ecclesiastical  Bodies . 30 

Illustrated  Lectures . 31 

The  American  Board  and  the  Woman's  Boards  .  .  32 

Interdenominational  Co-operation . 33 

A  Policy  of  Frankness . 35 

In  Conclusion  . 36 

Appendix . 38 

Milestones  in  the  Board’s  History . 38 

What  Foreign  Missions  Have  Done . 47 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/handbookforcorpoOOamer 


HAND  BOOK  FOR  CORPORATE 
MEMBERS 


THE  NAME  OF  THE  BOARD 

When  Rev.  Samuel  Spring  and  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester, 
in  that  famous  ride  from  Andover  to  Bradford  in  l8io, 
discussed  the  project  of  forming  a  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  and  decided  to  recommend  to  the  General 
Association  of  Massachusetts  that  the  new  organization 
be  called  “The  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions,”  they  chose  a  title  which  has  proved 
of  incalculable  benefit  in  promoting  and  conducting  the 
work.  This  is  increasingly  evident  as  the  years  go  by. 
We  do  not  refer  to  the  accuracy  of  the  title  as  setting  forth 
exactly  what  was  in  mind,  or  to  its  dignified  and  sonorous 
sound,  which  seems  to  impress  many.  The  value  of  the 
name  is  found  primarily  in  the  fact  that  it  stands  for 
America  and  American  Christianity,  and  is  regarded  in 
this  light  in  many  parts  of  the  world.  It  brings  to  the 
work  the  prestige  of  the  United  States.  Nor  is  this  infer¬ 
ence  entirely  unwarranted,  since  the  Board  was  organized 
for  the  purpose  of  providing  an  outlet  for  the  foreign  mis¬ 
sionary  enthusiasm  not  only  of  the  Congregationalists, 
but  of  the  Presbyterians  and  other  ecclesiastical  bodies. 
For  many  years  no  other  society  stood  for  American 
Christianity  in  foreign  parts,  and  so  by  an  entirely  natural 
process,  the  government  officials  and  natives  of  the  lands 
to  which  the  missionaries  went  came  to  look  upon  this 
organization  as  broadly  representative  of  our  country. 
Although  the  Board  has  now  become  Congregational, 
the  original,  evangelical,  non-sectarian  policy  has  been 
continued.  The  Board  has  sought  to  live  up  to  its  great 
name. 


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HAND  BOOK 


WHAT  THE  AMERICAN  BOARD  STANDS  FOR 

The  American  Board,  the  oldest  foreign  missionary 
society  in  America,  has  achieved  for  itself  a  place  of  lead¬ 
ership  which  is  one  of  our  most  precious  possessions.  Not 
only  among  the  American  societies  which  have  sprung  up 
in  its  wake,  but  among  the  older  European  societies  it  has 
exerted  an  influence  far  beyond  its  numerical  strength. 

Whether  in  the  great  General  Missionary  Conferences, 
like  those  held  in  London  in  1878,  in  New  York  in  1900, 
and  in  Edinburgh  in  1910,  or  in  the  deliberations  of  the 
united  Missionary  Boards  as  in  the  Committee  of  Refer¬ 
ence  and  Counsel,  representing  the  Protestant  missionary 
organizations  of  America,  or  the  Continuation  Committee, 
representing  the  Protestant  missionary  organizations  of 
the  world,  the  American  Board  holds  a  place  of  large 
influence  and  leadership. 

The  operations  of  no  other  Mission  Board  cover  a  wider 
range  of  activities  or  stand  for  policies  that  more  univer¬ 
sally  demand  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  missionary 
leaders  of  all  Communions.  Its  work  is  carried  on  in  the 
great  countries  of  the  world  and  among  the  leading  non- 
Christian  races,  as  the  Chinese,  the  Japanese,  the  Indian 
races,  the  Ceylonese,  the  Zulus,  the  Turks  and  Armenians 
and  Greeks,  the  Bulgarians,  Austrians,  Spaniards  and 
Mexicans,  to  say  nothing  of  many  African  races,  the  wild 
tribes  of  the  Philippines  and  the  scattered  peoples  in  the 
Micronesian  Islands.  Of  these  races,  seventy-five  million 
have  been  set  apart  as  the  American  Board’s  exclusive 
field. 

The  character  of  its  work  covers  every  phase  of  endeavor 
that  has  for  its  purpose  the  salvation  of  the  body,  mind 
and  soul  of  every  individual,  the  creation  of  a  society  that 
shall  be  pervaded  by  the  spirit  and  power  of  the  Christ 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


7 


and,  in  a  word,  the  establishing  of  a  permanent  Christian 
civilization.  These  phases  of  work  include  the  creation 
and  promotion  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  the  organization 
of  the  Sunday  School,  the  establishment  of  hospitals  and 
dispensaries  where  modern  medicine  was  unknown,  the 
development  of  the  printing  press,  and  the  creation  of  a 
permanent  as  well  as  periodical  educational  and  Christian 
literature,  the  promotion  of  saving  and  civilizing  industries, 
leadership  in  moral,  social  and  religious  reformation,  the 
creation  and  enlargement  of  every  form  of  education  from 
the  kindergarten  to  the  college  and  theological  seminary. 
In  fact,  the  Board  is  carrying  on  one  of  the  most  compre¬ 
hensive  and  world-embracing  propaganda  for  the  uplift 
and  redemption  of  the  race  that  can  be  conceived. 

In  its  policies  it  stands  for  progressive  conservatism. 
It  adheres  to  old  methods  that,  according  to  present  ex¬ 
perience,  seem  to  be  the  best  and  at  the  same  time  adopts 
new  measures  that  give  assurance  of  better  results.  A  few 
of  these  fundamental  policies,  for  some  of  which  the  Board 
stood  almost  alone  for  years,  but  which  are  now  accepted 
generally  by  other  Boards  as  the  sane  and  effective  method 
of  work,  are  the  following; 

I.  That  natives  of  every  missionary  country  must  be 
relied  upon  to  lead  in  the  work  of  evangelization  as  well 
as  in  all  other  departments  of  the  enterprise. 

’  2.  That  the  Native  Church,  humanly  speaking,  must 

find  its  life  and  strength  not  in  the  foreign  missionary,  but 
in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  its  native  membership. 

3.  That  the  Church  which  is  to  dominate  the  East 
cannot  be  a  transplanted  Occidental  Church  with  its 
Western  secretarian  creeds  and  polity,  but  it  must  spring 
from  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  from  the  soil  of  the  land  watered 
from  its  own  Oriental  heavens,  beaten  by  its  own  Oriental 
storms  and  warmed  by  its  Oriental  life-giving  sun. 


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4.  That  the  native  churches  must  have  their  own  native 
pastors,  conduct  their  awn  services,  carry  on  their  own 
missionary  organizations  and  pay  their  own  bills. 

5.  That  the  missionary’s  most  important  function  is  to 
search  out  and  train  the  men  and  women  in  every  country 
who  will  be  able  to  assume  positions  of  leadership  among 
their  own  people  in  every  department  of  missionary  en¬ 
deavor,  and  to  lead  the  Church  in  all  its  varied  depart¬ 
ments,  evangelistic,  educational,  moral  and  social,  to  a 
commanding  place  of  power. 

6.  That,  in  order  to  secure  such  leaders,  training  institu¬ 
tions  must  be  created  and  sustained;  and  this  means  schools 
of  every  grade,  academies,  colleges,  normal  schools,  theo¬ 
logical  seminaries  and  professional  schools,  and  in  fact  every 
kind  of  institution  that  can  take  untrained  boys  and  girls 
and  make  of  them  leaders  of  conspicuous  power. 

7.  That  for  the  training  of  the  people  as  a  whole  and  for 
the  use  of  the  leaders  in  particular,  the  printing  press  is 
one  of  the  mighty  forces  of  growth  and  civilization  and  so 
is  an  indispensable  agency  in  every  mission  field. 

8.  That  sectarianism  has  no  just  place  in  missions,  and 
that  rivalry  among  missionaries  is  a  sin.  Hence  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Board  puts  little  emphasis  upon  the  word  “Congrega¬ 
tional”  but  stands  always  and  everywhere  for  “the  Gospel 
of  Christ  and  Christianity.”  It  readily  joins  with  other 
denominations,  wherever  such  a  step  promises  greater 
efficiency  and  economy  in  educational,  literary,  medical, 
theological  and  even  in  church  organization. 

9.  That  permanence  shall  be  aimed  at  rather  than  quick 
and  superficial  returns.  The  temptation  to  sacrifice 
strength  and  permanence  for  the  sake  of  superficiality  is 
ever  present,  and  to  this  many  societies  yield  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree.  The  American  Board  is  not  working  for 
today  but  for  eternity,  and  its  endeavor  aims  at  planting 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


9 


permanent,  self-supporting,  self-directing,  self-promoting 
Christian  institutions  which  shall  continue  with  increasing 
force  and  efficiency  long  after  the  work  of  the  foreign  mis¬ 
sionary  shall  have  been  finished  and  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  every  mission  country  shall  have  become  triumphant. 

lo.  There  is  no  need  to  add  that  in  the  selection  of  mis¬ 
sionaries,  upon  whom  so  much  depends  for  carrying  out 
these  policies  and  directing  this  stupendous  enterprise, 
men  and  women  of  the  highest  physical,  intellectual  and 
spiritual  attainments  are  sought  for  missionary  service. 
Devotion,  unquestioned  faith,  absolute  confidence  in  the 
power  of  the  Gospel  to  redeem  the  world,  intellectual  gifts 
of  a  high  order,  ability  to  comprehend  the  greatness  of  the 
task,  statesmanship,  Christian  daring  and  self-forgetful 
heroism,  characterize  the  missionary  force  of  the  American 
Board  in  all  its  missions  and  in  every  department  of  its 
work. 

The  great  reputation  of  the  Board  in  America,  as  in 
foreign  lands,  has  come  largely  through  the  quality  of  the 
missionaries.  A  representative  of  another  Board  expressed 
this  with  a  pleasantry,  when  he  said,  “You  can  tell  an 
American  Board  missionary  as  far  as  you  can  see  him.’’ 
Such  men  as  Samuel  Newell,  Gordon  Hall,  Pliny  Fiske, 
Levi  Parsons,  William  Goodell,  Cyrus  Hamlin,  Titus 
Coan,  Hiram  Bingham,  Peter  Parker,  S.  Wells  Williams, 
Dr.  John  Scudder,  Aldin  Grout,  Jerome  D.  Davis,  Daniel 
Crosby  Greene,  J.  H.  De  Forest,  have  given  the  Board  a 
name  and  a  quality  which  is  beyond  computation. 

It  is  easy  to  enumerate  the  things  for  which  the  Board 
stands,  as  above,  because  our  ideals  and  policies  are  now 
accepted  quite  generally  by  all  progressive  Boards;  but  it 
is  worth  remembering  that  it  was  not  ever  thus.  When 
Rufus  Anderson  (whom  Robt.  E.  Speer  says  was  the  great¬ 
est  missionary  secretary  America  has  produced)  pro- 


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pounded  the  ideal  of  “a  self-governing,  self-supporting, 
self-propagating  Native  Church”  he  was  a  voice  crying 
in  the  wilderness.  To  many  such  an  idea  was  quite  im¬ 
practicable,  if  not  rank  heresy.  At  the  Edinburgh  Con¬ 
ference,  1910,  Anderson’s  slogan  was  heard  on  every  side, 
as  the  accepted  theory  of  missions.  Few,  however,  re¬ 
called  where  it  originated. 

By  common  consent  the  greatest  living  authority  on 
missions  is  Julius  Richter,  of  the  Berlin  Missionary  Society. 
A  few  years  ago,  when  invited  to  sit  with  the  Prudential 
Committee  of  the  American  Board  at  one  of  their  meetings, 
he  told  us  that  the  American  Board  had  made  a  distinct 
and  invaluable  contribution  to  missionary  science  in  the 
development  of  the  democratic  ideal,  that  our  emphasis 
upon  the  rights  and  responsibilities  of  the  Native  Church 
had  led  certain  British  and  Continental  societies  to  look 
upon  us  with  disapproval  if  not  with  alarm,  as  advocating 
a  dangerous  policy;  but  that  our  undoubted  success  in 
such  lands  as  Turkey  and  Japan  had  convinced  them  that 
we  are  right.  He  added  “You  do  not  exalt  as  you  should 
the  importance  of  this  your  contribution  to  the  science  of 
missions.” 

THE  OLD  BOARD  AND  THE  NEW 

The  American  Board  was  organized  in  1810  as  a  private 
corporation  and  so  it  has  continued  through  most  of  its 
history.  This  has  sometimes  been  used  as  a  reproach, 
but  never  by  those  who  have  known  the  quality  and  spirit 
of  the  corporation,  or  those  who  have  understood  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  of  its  origin  and  early  development. 

It  is  an  historical  fact  that  the  Board,  like  nearly  all  the 
societies  in  Europe  and  America  organized  for  foreign 
work,  arose  at  a  time  when  the  churches,  with  rare  excep- 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


II 


tions,  “cared  for  none  of  these  things.”  The  advocates  of 
foreign  missions  were  an  exceedingly  small  minority,  the 
fragment  of  a  remnant,  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness. 
Under  such  conditions,  there  was  nothing  else  to  do  but 
to  organize  independently.  To  this  was  added  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  having  an  interdenominational  society,  so  that 
others  than  Congregationalists  might  participate  in  the 
enterprise.  Yet  it  is  significant  that  in  our  case  the  action 
was  taken  on  the  advice  of  an  ecclesiastical  body,  the 
General  Association  of  Massachusetts. 

Thus  arising  in  enforced  freedom  from  denominational 
direction  and  responsibility,  the  Board  has  grown  into  its 
present  dimensions.  It  has  done  its  work  and  borne  its 
witness  all  these  years  to  a  world  gospel.  In  the  midst 
of  general  indifference  and  occasional  opposition,  step  by 
step  it  has  won  its  way,  until  it  has  found  a  large  place  for 
itself  in  the  life  of  the  churches.  It  was  indeed  a  signifi¬ 
cant  event  when  the  churches  through  their  ecclesiastical 
organizations  began  to  express  a  willingness  to  become 
responsible  for  the  foreign  work,  and  when  at  the  meeting 
in  Worcester  in  1893  steps  were  taken  by  the  Board  looking 
to  a  corporate  membership  selected  by  ecclesiastical 
bodies,  it  was  recognized  that  a  new  era  had  come.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  trace  the  process  of  adjustment  which 
grew  out  of  this  new  attitude;  but  when  in  1913,  the  Con¬ 
gregational  churches  through  the  National  Council  agreed 
to  accept  full  responsibility  and  to  accredit  the  Board  as 
their  agent  for  foreign  work,  it  should  be  considered  as  the 
consummation  of  a  century-long  process  of  education  and 
persuasion.  At  last  we  have  the  church  taking  unto  itself 
the  task  Christ  committed  to  it  at  the  first.  Let  us  not 
overlook  the  spiritual  significance  of  this  change.  Per¬ 
plexing  administrative  and  financial  questions  are  bound 
to  arise  from  the  new  arrangement,  but  overshadowing  all 


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these  is  the  great  fact  that  the  churches  claim  the  foreign 
missionary  enterprise  as  their  own.  This  should  mean  a 
gain  in  every  way,  especially  in  the  matter  of  locating  the 
place  of  financial  responsibility.  There  remains  not  the 
shadow  of  excuse  for  any  Congregational  Church  or  Con¬ 
gregational  member  not  to  share  in  the  expense  of  this 
work.  This  new  responsibility  must  be  expressed  and  met 
in  the  main  by  the  voluntary  service  of  the  delegates  to 
the  National  Council  in  their  capacity  as  Corporate  Mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Board. 


ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION 

It  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  Board  that  the  officers  are  not 
elected  by  the  Prudential  Committee,  after  the  manner 
of  banking  and  commercial  corporations,  but  by  the  Board 
itself.  They,  therefore,  constitute  a  co-ordinate  body, 
deriving  their  authority  from  the  parent  organization,  yet 
working  under  the  direction  of  the  Prudential  Committee. 
Efforts  have  been  made  at  various  times  to  change  this 
system,  but  the  Board  has  expressed  itself  strongly  as 
favoring  the  present  plan.  The  Prudential  Committee  is 
charged  with  the  direct  responsibility  of  administering 
the  affairs  of  the  Board  between  Annual  Meetings.  They 
are  the  Board  in  operation.  They  make  the  appropria¬ 
tions,  appoint  the  missionaries,  and  regulate  the  affairs  of 
the  missions,  under  the  Charter  and  By-Laws.  The 
executive  officers  sit  with  the  Committee,  present  the 
various  items  of  business,  enter  freely  into  the  discussions, 
but  have  no  vote.  The  officers  among  themselves  are 
organized  for  co-operative  work  by  means  of  the  Cabinet, 
which  meets  before  each  Prudential  Committee  meeting,  and 
at  such  other  times  as  may  be  necessary.  Every  matter 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


13 


coming  before  the  Prudential  Committee  is  first  considered 
in  the  Cabinet,  and  is  presented  by  the  appropriate  officer, 
with  recommendation.  When  a  decision  has  been  reached, 
the  matter  is  then  referred  to  the  officers  to  be  carried  out. 
Thus  the  officers  are  both  the  advisers  and  the  executives 
of  the  Committee.  The  relationship  has  proved  its  value 
through  many  years,  and  never  was  working  more  harmo¬ 
niously  and  effectively  than  now. 

For  executive  purposes  the  administration  is  divided 
into  the  following  departments:  Foreign  Department, 
Home  Department,  Treasury  Department,  Editorial 
Department.  Secretaries  assigned  to  the  several  depart¬ 
ments  not  only  have  responsibility  for  the  affairs  of  their 
department,  but  they  also  are  charged  with  a  responsibility 
toward  all  the  work  of  the  Board,  the  relation  among  them¬ 
selves  being  a  collegiate  one.  Thus  each  officer  is  kept 
intelligent  upon  all  the  activities  of  the  Board  abroad  and 
at  home. 

The  Prudential  Committee  subdivides  its  work  by  a 
system  of  minor  committees  on  the  various  missions  and 
departments,  finance,  appropriations,  legacies,  etc.  The 
Finance  Committee,  acting  with  the  Treasury  Depart¬ 
ment,  is  charged  with  so  many  and  such  grave  responsi¬ 
bilities  in  the  matter  of  the  Board’s  investments  and 
financial  problems  arising  from  the  field,  that  it  meets  not 
less  than  once  a  week.  The  Prudential  Committee  meets 
about  thirty  times  a  year,  on  Tuesday  afternoons,  from 
two  to  five. 


KEEPING  INFORMED 

If  any  corporate  member  asks  what  is  his  first  duty,  the 
answer  should  be:  The  first  duty  of  a  corporate  member  is 
to  keep  informed  upon  the  work  and  needs  of  the  Board. 


14 


HAND  BOOK 


Information  underlies  both  prayer  and  work.  This  in¬ 
formation  is  to  be  obtained  in  the  various  publications  of 
the  Board,  and  so  the  first  duty  comes  down  to  this,  read 
what  the  Board  sends  out. 

First  of  all  comes  the  Missionary  Herald,  the  monthly 
illustrated  magazine  (75c.  a  year;  in  clubs  of  ten  or  more 
50c.  each)  which  portrays  what  is  happening  not  only  on 
the  Board’s  fields,  but  in  all  the  foreign  mission  lands. 
It  is  a  modern,  wide-awake  and  effective  publication,  “the 
sort  of  magazine,”  one  of  the  corporate  members  said, 
“that  a  man  likes  to  see  lying  on  his  library  table.”  It 
has  news  value,  artistic  merit  and  literary  charm. 

The  Missionary  Herald  is  the  oldest  and  best  known 
missionary  magazine  in  the  country.  It  began  as  the 
Panoplist  in  1805  and  became  the  Missionary  Herald  in 
1818.  It  holds  a  unique  place  among  religious  periodicals 
— a  place  which  other  foreign  Boards  are  quick  to  recog¬ 
nize.  Talcott  Williams,  Head  of  the  Pulitzer  School  of 
Journalism,  and  other  students  of  publicity  have  expressed 
their  admiration  for  the  Herald,  and  their  constant  indebt¬ 
edness  to  it.  Edward  Everett  Hale  used  to  speak  of  the 
influence  of  the  Herald  in  making  New  Englanders  ac¬ 
quainted  with  foreign  lands,  and  in  keeping  them  from 
provincialism. 

The  Herald  is  one  of  the  Board’s  choicest  assets.  The 
large  legacies,  those  running  above  $100,000,  can  usually 
be  traced  to  the  influence  of  this  magazine,  as  well  as  mul¬ 
titudes  of  smaller  legacies. 

The  largest  legacy  which  the  Board  has  received  was 
from  Asa  Otis,  of  New  London,  Conn.,  amounting  to  nearly 
$1,000,000.  It  was  reading  the  Missionary  Herald  that 
led  Mr.  Otis  to  make  this  princely  bequest.  In  the  matter 
of  individual  gifts  and  special  donations  for  property  and 
equipment,  the  Herald  is  unquestionably  our  greatest  ally. 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


15 


It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  anything  which  should  hinder, 
limit  or  complicate  the  distinctive  appeal  of  the  Herald  in 
behalf  of  foreign  missions  would  be  a  disaster  to  the  Board. 

The  Herald,  too,  serves  as  an  organ  and  circulating  me¬ 
dium  among  the  missionaries  and  native  workers  on  the 
field.  If  it  performed  no  other  function  than  this,  the 
magazine  would  be  worth  while.  It  binds  us  all  together 
in  nineteen  missions  and  in  the  home  land,  making  each 
one  acquainted  with  what  all  the  others  are  doing. 

The  constituency  of  the  Herald  is  not  as  large  as  it  should 
be,  but  it  is  an  exceedingly  choice  one,  and  by  common 
consent  we  are  reaching  this  constituency  in  an  effective 
way.  No  money  appropriated  by  the  Board  in  the  line 
of  home  cultivation,  produces  such  large  returns  as  what  is 
spent  on  this  publication.  The  large  free  list  (all  corpo¬ 
rate  members,  honorary  members,  pastors)  makes  a  paying 
magazine  out  of  the  question,  but  what  business  firm  would 
hesitate  to  spend  $10,000  a  year  if  it  was  certain  to  bring 
in  $100,000?  The  Herald  has  done  even  better  than  that. 

The  upshot  of  it  all  is  that  the  corporate  members  should 
read  the  Herald,  commend  it  to  their  friends,  and  push  it 
in  their  churches.  Is  It  too  much  to  ask  that  we  should 
have  a  Herald  Club  in  every  Church  to  which  a  corporate 
member  belongs? 

Two  quarterly  publications  are  the  Envelope  Series  and 
and  News  Bulletin.  The  former  (loc.  a  year)  presents  in 
handy  pamphlet  form  single  articles  of  note,  usually  illus¬ 
trated,  describing  some  department  of  work,  or  some  field, 
the  career  of  a  distinguished  missionary,  or  a  fresh  putting 
of  the  foreign  missionary  argument.  Each  number  is 
complete  in  itself,  and  has  a  special  message  to  declare. 

The  News  Bulletin  is  issued  by  the  Home  Department 
(without  charge)  in  circular  form  and  relates  in  crisp  fash¬ 
ion  some  of  the  most  recent  and  most  stirring  facts  from 
the  many  fields.  It  is  somewhat  of  a  free  lance  among  the 


i6 


HAND  BOOK 


publications  of  the  Board  and,  as  it  is  sent  to  a  carefully 
gathered  list  of  individuals  all  over  the  United  States,  it 
carries  the  personal  greetings  of  one  of  the  Board’s  officers 
to  a  large  and  responsive  branch  of  our  constituency. 

The  annual  publications  are  two:  The  Annual  Report, 
and  the  Almanac.  If  the  title  Annual  Report  looks  some¬ 
what  formal  and  uninviting,  the  volume  (30c.  a  copy)  is 
quite  the  contrary.  It  contains  facts  and  figures  as,  of 
course,  it  should  in  reviewing  the  work  of  a  year.  It 
locates  all  the  missionaries,  describes  all  the  institutions, 
surveys  the  several  departments  of  activity  in  each  field. 
It  narrates  the  events  of  the  year  at  the  home  base;  sum¬ 
marizes  the  work  of  the  officers,  the  Prudential  Committee, 
and  the  District  Offices.  It  preserves  the  minutes  of  the 
Annual  Meeting,  and  records  the  actions  there  taken. 
The  full  report  of  the  Treasury  is  included,  with  lists  of 
the  trust  funds  and  Investments  held  by  the  Board  and 
detailed  statement  of  expenditures.  It  is  the  authorita¬ 
tive  record  of  that  year  in  the  Board’s  history  which  it 
reviews,  and  as  such  is  of  quite  exceptional  importance. 
From  its  pages  too  may  be  got  a  bird’s  eye  view  of  the  mis¬ 
sion  fields  and  their  currents  of  life,  together  with  numer¬ 
ous  Incidents  and  experiences  of  the  year  just  closed  that 
are  specially  significant.  There  is  a  wealth  of  information, 
accurate  and  effective  information  in  one  of  these  Reports, 
which  an  enterprising  Corporate  Member  could  use  in  mis¬ 
sionary  addresses,  and  in  planning  programs. 

The  Almanac  (loc.  a  copy)  is  one  of  the  most  attractive 
publications  of  the  Board.  It  abounds  in  pictures  and 
appears  each  year  in  a  cover  of  fresh  and  striking  design. 
Within  its  small  compass  it  presents  the  usual  information 
of  an  almanac  together  with  the  facts  and  figures  of  foreign 
missionary  work  for  the  preceding  year.  Its  descriptions 
of  the  situation  and  outlook  of  the  several  countries  passed 
in  review  are  of  themselves  worth  more  than  the  cost  of 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


17 


the  annual.  The  Almanac  holds  a  unique  place  and  is 
greatly  admired  by  other  boards. 

Besides  these  regular  issues,  the  Board  provides,  as  has 
been  said,  occasional  leaflets  and  pamphlets,  descriptive 
of  some  phase  of  its  work  or  enforcing  one  or  more  of  its 
appeals.  The  names  of  a  few  of  these  (for  which  no  charge 
is  made)  will  indicate  their  nature:  The  American  Board, 
What  It  Is,  How  It  Works,  Where  It  Works,  The  Forces  at 
Work,  Our  Conditional  Gift  Plan;  The  Missionary  Reading 
Circle;  Some  Things  the  War  Hasn't  Stopped.  A  booklet 
entitled  Maps  of  the  Missions  (15c.)  contains  a  series  of 
thirteen  maps  in  four  colors,  showing  all  the  mission  fields 
with  location  of  mission  stations  and  of  many  outstations. 

We  have  dwelt  with  some  detail  upon  this  matter  of 
the  Board’s  publications  because  we  believe  it  to  be  of 
prime  importance  in  addressing  our  new  corporate  mem¬ 
bers.  We  feel  sure  they  will  be  eager  to  learn  as  to  how 
they  can  inform  themselves  concerning  the  American 
Board  and  its  work.  A  prerequisite  to  rendering  service 
is  a  knowledge  of  that  which  one  would  serve.  To  get 
acquainted  with  the  foreign  missionary  enterprise — that  is 
the  first  step  to  promoting  it. 

Several  of  the  publications  of  the  Board  are  sent  to  Cor* 
porate  Members  without  charge.  The  list  includes  the 
Missionary  Herald,  the  Annual  Report,  and  the  Quarterly 
News  Bulletin.  The  others  are  obtainable  upon  applica¬ 
tion  without  charge  or  at  the  nominal  price  indicated.  We 
commend  them  all  to  your  attention ;  we  urge  that  you  read 
them  regularly,  carefully  and  sympathetically.  Back  of 
your  interest,  your  prayers,  your  gifts,  your  support  in 
every  way,  lies  the  need  of  information.  The  publications 
of  the  Board  are  meant  to  furnish  you  that  information. 
They  will  make  you  intelligent  and  capable  corporate 
members. 


i8 


HAND  BOOK 


PUBLICITY 

The  American  Board  is  sending  every  week  to  thirty 
metropolitan  papers  in  the  country  and  every  month  to 
two  hundred  or  more  papers  in  smaller  centers,  items  of 
news  from  its  mission  fields,  stories  of  persons  and  events 
that  reflect  some  of  the  aspects  of  foreign  missionary  work 
that  are  full  of  human  interest.  It  finds  a  warm  welcome 
for  this  material.  The  newspapers  are  glad  to  get  it  and 
print  it  conspicuously.  Partly  because  its  name.  The 
American  Board,  is  broad  and  unsectarian  in  sound,  partly 
because  care  is  given  to  the  selection  and  preparation  of 
the  material,  in  part  too  because  the  secular  press  has 
waked  up  to  the  fact  that  foreign  missions  are  a  world 
force  and  produce  information  having  news  value,  this 
newly  organized  Publicity  Department  of  the  Board  finds 
an  open  and  rewarding  field  for  its  activity.  Corporate 
Members  rendered  valued  service  at  first,  in  introducing 
the  Department  and  its  wares  to  papers  in  their  localities. 
Now  that  the  connection  is  made  the  Board  finds  itself  in 
direct  and  cordial  touch  with  many  of  the  leading  news¬ 
papers  of  the  country. 


PRAYER  FOR  THE  MISSIONARIES 

The  missionaries  have  expressed  at  various  times,  and  in 
various  ways  their  deep  longing  for  more  prayer  in  their 
behalf  on  the  part  of  the  home  constituency.  It  was  at 
their  own  request  that  a  cycle  of  prayer  for  the  entire 
missionary  force  was  formed,  and  a  calendar  of  prayer 
issued  annually.  In  this  calendar  each  missionary  is 
mentioned  by  name  on  a  certain  day.  The  Corporate 
Members  can  easily  imagine  what  it  means  to  a  given  mis- 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


19 


sionary  when  his  day  arrives,  and  he  knows  that  all  his 
fellow  missionaries  are  remembering  him  by  name  at  the 
Throne  of  Grace,  and  that  in  addition  to  this,  many  per¬ 
sonal  friends  and  devout  Christians  at  home  are  also  pray¬ 
ing  that  he  may  be  guided,  strengthened  and  blessed. 
Letters  from  the  missionaries  showing  the  appreciation  of 
the  prayer-calendar  are  pathetic  and  appealing.  Could 
our  Corporate  Members  realize  the  value  of  this  service  of 
intercession,  we  are  confident  that  each  one  would  secure 
one  of  these  calendars,  keep  it  on  his  desk  or  close  at  hand, 
and  use  it  as  a  guide  to  prayer  throughout  the  year. 

In  this  connection,  mention  might  be  made  of  the  daily 
prayer  meeting  in  the  Board  rooms  from  12.20  to  12.30, 
when  the  officers  and  office  staff  pause  in  their  work,  and 
when  they  invariably  mention  by  name  the  missionaiy  for 
the  day.  It  would  greatly  strengthen  the  hands  of  the 
officers  of  the  Board,  if  they  could  feel  that  the  Corporate 
Members  occasionally  remembered  them  as  well  as  the 
missionaries  at  this  or  some  other  convenient  time. 

One  of  our  Corporate  Members,  who  has  only  missed 
two  annual  meetings  in  twenty-seven  years,  has  been  mak¬ 
ing  a  study  of  the  matter  of  missionary  intercession  in  the 
pulpit,  and  he  finds  a  sad  lack  in  this  respect.  We  pass 
his  observation  along,  hoping  that  it  may  bear  fruit  in 
many  of  our  churches.  Should  these  words  result  in 
definite  prayer  for  the  American  Board  and  the  American 
Board  Missionaries  being  introduced  in  scores  of  pulpits 
every  Sunday,  may  we  not  be  assured  that  the  year  upon 
which  we  are  entering,  so  full  of  practical  difficulties  and 
baffling  problems,  will  prove  to  be  the  greatest  year  in  the 
history  of  the  Board?  “Brethren  pray  for  us.” 


20 


HAND  BOOK 


ATTENDANCE  UPON  ANNUAL  MEETINGS 

It  is  taken  for  granted  that  Corporate  Members  will 
plan  to  attend  the  Annual  Meetings  which  correspond  with 
the  biennial  sessions  of  the  Council,  but  we  wish  to  urge 
that  the  intervening  meetings  on  the  even  years  are  of 
equal  if  not  of  greater  importance.  In  Council  years  it  is 
impossible  for  the  Board  to  be  given  sufficient  time  for  the 
proper  presentation  of  its  work.  We,  therefore,  rely  the 
more  upon  the  full  program  of  a  nine  session  meeting  in 
other  years.  In  former  days  the  Annual  Meetings  of  the 
American  Board  were  noteworthy  occasions  throughout  the 
country.  These  occasions,  for  spiritual  power  and  mis¬ 
sionary  enthusiasm  were  unique.  It  is  the  hope  of  the 
officers  of  the  Board  that  under  the  new  arrangement  the 
meetings  in  the  even  years  will  be  of  the  old  time  character. 
This  will  only  be  possible  if  we  have  a  large  attendance  of 
Corporate  Members.  Is  it  unreasonable  to  expect  that  a 
person  accepting  this  office  will  make  it  an  annual  engage¬ 
ment  to  attend  the  meetings  so  long  as  his  term  runs, 
in  even  years  alternating  betw'een  home  and  foreign 
missions? 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE’S  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
DEPARTMENT 

This  is  not  a  separate  department  but  is  a  section  of  the 
Home  Department  of  the  Board.  It  aims  to  spread  mis¬ 
sion  study  plans  among  young  people’s  societies  and  in¬ 
formation  from  the  field  through  every  department  of  the 
church.  Each  autumn  circulars  outlining  new  plans  and 
material  are  sent  to  the  Sunday  School  superintendents. 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


21 


while  from  time  to  time  during  the  year  printed  messages 
are  sent  to  pastors  and  to  the  leaders  of  young  people’s 
work.  Through  correspondence  with  a  selected  list  of 
leaders  in  the  denomination ;  through  addresses  at  asso¬ 
ciations,  conferences,  conventions  and  individual  churches; 
through  the  writing  of  articles  on  missionary  education; 
through  various  pamphlets  and  through  a  system  of  report 
letters,  representing  the  work  of  many  stations  and  indi¬ 
vidual  missionaries  on  the  field,  this  department  strives 
to  stir  interest. 

Anything  that  Corporate  Members  can  do  to  turn  the 
attention  of  missionarj^  chairmen,  Sunday  School  super¬ 
intendents  and  pastors  toward  the  plans  proposed  by  us 
would  be  a  genuine  help. 

I.  Mission  Study 

There  are  mission  study  plans  for  each  department  of 
the  church.  We  urge  the  use  of  the  regular  Missionary 
Education  Movement  text  books  as  prepared  from  year 
to  year.  We  would  like  to  see  a  mission  study  class  in 
every  young  people’s  society.  It  is  not  easy  to  run  a  suc¬ 
cessful  class,  but  it  is  the  best  method  for  producing  in¬ 
tensively  trained  leaders.  The  official  text  book  for  the 
year  ought  to  be  reviewed  by  every  pastor  in  a  course  of 
two  or  three  consecutive  talks  in  his  mid-week  prayer 
meeting.  The  assistance  of  three  or  four  young  people  in 
preparing  and  presenting  assignments  from  the  book  will 
add  interest.  Some  pastors  have  given  this  course  in 
their  evening  services  with  great  success.  Sunday  School 
teachers  often  give  an  outline  course  from  these  books  to 
their  classes. 


22 


HAND  BOOK 


II.  In  the  Sunday  School 

Each  fall  we  send  to  every  superintendent  and  pastor, 
plans  for  brief  and  simple  missionary  programs.  The 
material  is  usually  taken  from  our  pamphlets  with  sugges¬ 
tions  on  how  to  make  it  interesting  to  young  people. 
Some  schools  try  to  present  a  missionary  incident  in  five 
minutes  from  Sunday  to  Sunday,  while  others  prefer  a 
ten-minute  program  once  a  month  or  an  occasional  full 
program. 

The  autumn  months  are  set  aside  by  joint  agreement  with 
the  Homeland  Societies  for  foreign  missionary  education  in 
the  work  of  the  American  Board. 

The  Christmas  Exercise  is  sent  out  free  of  cost  by  the 
Board  for  use  in  the  Schools.  This  exercise  is  prepared 
with  great  care,  using  the  famous  Christmas  hymns  of 
the  Church  and  reducing  the  preparation  to  a  mimimum. 
A  Supplement  explains  the  preparation  and  gives  the  full 
words  of  all  assigned  parts.  It  is  hoped  that  Corporate 
Members  will  speak  to  pastors  and  superintendents  and 
have  these  Exercises  used  wherever  possible.  Collection 
Envelopes  are  furnished  so  the  children  can  collect  their 
gifts  and  bring  them  in  at  the  Christmas  celebration. 

III.  Missionary  Offerings 

The  Board  has  a  right  to  expect  a  gift  from  every  Con¬ 
gregational  Sunday  School,  yet  a  very  small  percentage 
now  send  us  anything  at  all.  These  gifts  are  applicable 
on  the  Apportionment  Plan,  and  are  reported  carefully  in 
the  Year  Book,  unless  they  are  sent  as  “specials.”  No 
department  of  the  church  ought  to  send  “specials”  to  the 
field.  These  should  come  from  individuals  as  extra  gifts 
over  and  above  regular  subscriptions.  Corporate  Mem¬ 
bers  can  help  this  department  by  urging  our  Sunday 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


23 


Schools  and  Young  People’s  Societies  to  keep  in  touch  with 
us,  and  by  asking  from  time  to  time  whether  the  young 
people  of  the  church  have  made  their  regular  gifts  to  the 
American  Board.  There  is  a  wide-spread,  but  fallacious 
idea,  that  the  young  people  are  expected  to  give  to  the 
Woman’s  Board  more  than  to  the  American  Board.  No 
such  principle  has  ever  been  stated  or  suggested.  The 
Board  expects  gifts  from  every  Sunday  School  and  every 
young  people’s  society. 

This  department  offers  four  report  letters  a  year  to 
Sunday  Schools  and  Societies  who  wish  to  make  a  definite 
investment  under  the  “Station  Plan.”  These  letters  are 
now  prepared  from  a  dozen  stations.  We  try  to  encourage 
these  definite  assignments  of  gifts  so  long  as  the  money 
comes  to  the  Board’s  regular  treasury  and  is  not  sent  as  a 
“special.” 


PERSONAL  CONTRIBUTIONS 

Those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  Board 
know  full  well  how  much  the  success  of  the  work  financially 
has  depended  upon  the  generosity  of  individual  Corporate 
Members.  Not  only  have  the  Corporate  Members  felt 
the  special  obligation  in  the  matter  of  contributing  through 
the  local  church,  but  not  a  few  of  them  have  considered 
it  a  privilege  and  joy  to  make  additional  gifts  directly  to 
the  Treasury  of  the  Board,  especially  in  times  of  great 
need,  as  at  the  close  of  the  year  when  a  debt  is  impending. 
Many  instances  of  this  kind  could  be  cited.  We  recall 
one  Corporate  Member  who  never  left  on  a  long  vacation 
without  inquiring  of  the  Home  Department  as  to  the 
financial  situation,  and  sending  a  sizeable  check  in  response, 
at  one  time  running  into  four  figures.  Dotted  over  our 


24 


HAND  BOOK 


nineteen  missions  are  hospitals,  schools,  college  buildings, 
churches,  which  are  the  silent  memorials  of  generosity  of 
this  kind.  The  Board  is  what  it  is  today  in  no  small 
measure  because  of  the  splendid  devotion  of  the  Corporate 
Body.  Now  that  the  number  of  Corporate  Members  is 
so  greatly  enlarged,  some  think  that  the  sense  of  personal 
responsibility  will  become  so  attenuated  as  to  deprive  us 
of  this  important  source  of  income.  It  should  work  in 
exactly  the  opposite  way,  and  the  receipts  of  the  Board 
under  the  very  first  year  of  the  plan,  ought  to  demonstrate 
the  fallacy  of  the  above  criticism. 


REGULAR  AND  SPECIAL  GIFTS 

The  Corporate  Members,  as  those  officially  charged 
with  fundamental  responsibility,  should  be  jealous  to 
guard  the  interests  of  the  general  treasury  of  the  Board, 
and  should  never  contribute  toward  special  funds  and 
needs  at  the  expense  of  our  regular  work.  At  the  same 
time,  there  are  so  many  important  and  beautiful  tasks 
to  perform  in  our  growing  fields  that  the  one  who,  after 
fulfilling  his  duty  toward  the  general  work,  Is  able  to  make 
a  special  offering,  should  be  counted  most  happy. 

The  distinction  between  “Regular  gifts”  and  “Specials” 
should  be  kept  clearly  in  mind.  Regular  gifts  are  those 
which  come  to  the  Board  undesignated,  so  that  they  may 
apply  on  the  general  budget  of  appropriations.  “Specials” 
are  those  which  are  designated  by  the  donor  for  objects 
outside  of  the  appropriations.  An  examination  of  the 
Treasurer’s  Report  will  show  that  the  Board  received 
last  year  $127,994.15  in  special  gifts.  This  was  made  up 
of  a  multitude  of  small  items — gifts  from  Sunday  Schools, 
Endeavor  Societies,  personal  friends  of  missionaries. 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


25 


and  others  for  work  under  the  hand  of  some  particular 
missionary;  but  also  of  large  items  for  property  and  equip¬ 
ment.  The  acquiring  of  land  and  the  erection  of  suitable 
buildings  for  schools,  colleges,  hospitals,  etc.,  from  the 
beginning  has  been  provided  for  by  specials,  it  being  im¬ 
possible  for  the  Committee  to  cover  these  unusual  outlays 
under  the  regular  budget.  It  should  not  be  inferred, 
therefore,  that  the  officers  of  the  Board  deprecate  the 
making  of  special  gifts.  They  simply  urge  that  the  needs 
of  the  general  Treasury  should  be  met  before  these  other 
things  are  attended  to. 


LEGACIES 

The  American  Board  has  a  wonderful  record  in  the 
matter  of  legacies.  Recently  Dr.  Halsey,  the  Home 
Secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  made  an  investi¬ 
gation  for  the  benefit  of  the  Foreign  Missionary  Confer¬ 
ence,  of  the  record  of  the  four  leading  Foreign  Boards  in 
the  matter  of  legacy  receipts.  This  record  shows  that 
our  Board  led  all  the  others  at  that  time,  namely  in  1910, 
the  totals  for  the  twenty  preceding  years  being  as  follows: 

Congregational . $6,136,285.00 

Presbyterian .  3,387,615.00 

Baptist .  2,241,729.00 

Methodist .  1,829,643.00 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  American  Board,  during 
that  period,  received  nearly  as  much  as  the  other  three 
Boards  combined. 

The  remark  is  frequently  made  that  the  day  of  large 
and  many  legacies  Is  past.  There  is  no  ground  for  this 
assumption.  On  the  contrary,  we  have  every  reason  to 


26 


HAND  BOOK 


believe  that  the  Board  will  receive  an  increasing  revenue 
from  this  source.  The  Treasurer  has  on  his  files  all  the  time 
anywhere  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred 
pending  legacy  cases,  estates  in  various  stages  of  settle¬ 
ment.  The  Board  is  so  well  grounded  in  the  confidence 
and  affection  of  its  constituents  that  the  number  and  size 
of  legacies  should  steadily  increase.  Through  the  opera¬ 
tion  of  the  Twentieth  Century  Fund,  all  receipts  of  legacies 
are  equalized  through  the  years,  so  that  we  are  able  to 
maintain  a  fairly  calculable  level  of  income  from  this 
source,  with  a  general  tendency  toward  increase. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  no  reputable  citizen  of  Boston 
with  property  would  dare  to  die  without  making  his  will 
in  favor  of  Harvard  University.  Perhaps  sometime  a 
similar  remark  will  be  made  in  regard  to  the  Congregation- 
alists  with  reference  to  the  American  Board.  Great 
sums,  running  far  up  into  the  millions,  are  needed  if  we 
are  to  meet  our  responsibilities  toward  the  evangelization 
of  the  seventy-five  million  souls  placed  under  our  care  in 
different  parts  of  the  world.  Even  though  the  gifts  of 
the  churches  should  steadily  increase,  we  shall  always 
need  the  larger  sums  coming  by  bequest.  Looking  ahead 
twenty  or  twenty-five  years,  we  should  expect  that  in 
this  way  the  work  of  the  Board  will  be  greatly  enlarged 
and  strengthened  in  every  field.  With  nineteen  colleges 
and  thirty-three  hospitals  on  our  hands,  not  to  mention 
other  institutions,  there  is  an  insistent  call  for  sizeable 
gifts. 

The  Board  issues  a  leaflet  entitled  “The  American 
Board  and  Your  Will.”  It  also  issues  a  special  leaflet 
for  the  use  of  law>'ers  and  others  whose  advice  is  sought 
in  the  matter  of  legacies.  We  should  be  glad  to  have  the 
Corporate  Members  commend  these  leaflets  to  their 
friends.  A  pastor,  by  a  few  words  of  commendation  of 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


27 


the  Board’s  work  and  claims,  may  cause  a  legacy  to  be 
written  which  will  bring  more  money  to  the  Board’s 
Treasury  than  would  come  through  the  offerings  of  his 
church  for  many  years.  Here  is  a  fruitful  field  for  activity 
on  the  part  of  the  Corporate  Body. 


CONDITIONAL  GIFTS 

A  similar  opportunity  is  found  in  building  up  our  Con¬ 
ditional  Gift  Fund.  This  is  an  arrangement,  now  well 
understood,  whereby  people  can  bestow  their  property 
upon  the  Board  during  lifetime,  and  receive  an  annuity 
for  the  same,  the  rate  varying  with  the  age  at  the  time  the 
gift  is  made.  The  character  of  this  work,  together  with 
the  Board’s  financial  standing,  has  made  it  possible  for 
this  fund  to  be  built  up  to  an  impressive  figure  ($955,394 
in  1915).  Over  three  hundred  persons  are  now  receiving 
a  stated  income  through  this  fund  and  one  and  all,  they  are 
delighted  with  the  arrangement.  This  fund  can  be  built 
up  indefinitely  if  its  advantages  are  made  known.  It 
offers  one  of  our  largest  encouragements  for  the  future. 
We  have  special  literature  on  the  subject,  and  shall  be  glad 
to  equip  the  Corporate  Members  with  all  the  needed 
information. 


THE  APPORTIONMENT  PLAN 

So  much  has  been  written  and  said  on  this  subject,  that 
the  matter  may  be  dismisssed  here  with  brief  mention. 
By  the  suggestion  of  the  Commission  on  Missions,  with  the 
approval  of  the  National  Council,  the  churches  are  asked 
to  raise  for  the  general  work  of  the  American  Board,  in 


28 


HAND  BOOK 


distinction  from  the  Woman’s  Boards  $560,000.  For  the 
Woman’s  Boards  the  sum  of  $300,000  is  asked  as  a  sepa¬ 
rate  apportionment.  On  the  percentage  basis  the  Board’s 
share  of  the  entire  denominational  benevolence  would  be 
28  per  cent, — The  Woman’s  Boards’  share  15  per  cent. 
Total  percentage,  43.  This  was  the  ideal  set  when  this 
important  plan  was  inaugurated.  In  some  of  the  states, 
however,  it  has  been  felt  that  on  account  of  the  heav>' 
pressure  of  Home  Missionary  work,  the  above  percentage 
could  not  be  raised  for  Foreign  Missions,  and  the  figures 
have  been  changed  to  suit  the  local  situation.  It  is  not 
in  the  province  of  the  officers  of  the  Board  to  decide  this 
matter,  nor  would  they  think  themselves  competent  to 
express  any  definite  opinion  in  a  given  case.  The  churches, 
through  their  state  organizations,  have  the  matter  in  their 
own  hands,  and  must  of  course  be  trusted  to  act  conscien¬ 
tiously  with  reference  to  the  whole  task  which  Christ  has 
given  us  to  do.  We  merely  call  attention  to  the  danger, 
where  changes  are  made  in  the  national  apportionment,  of 
slighting  the  foreign  work.  The  non-Christian  world 
seems  far  off  to  many,  and  the  appeal  of  the  heathen 
nations  so  vague  that  this  aspect  of  our  common  task  is 
more  easily  relegated  to  the  rear  than  any  other.  In  the 
State  Conference,  the  District  Association  and  the  local 
church,  we  trust  the  Corporate  Members  will  have  it  on 
their  hearts  to  see  that  the  Board  is  properly  provided  for 
when  the  allotments  are  made. 

The  Commission  on  Missions  has  pointed  out  the  grave 
danger  of  our  benevolence  becoming  mechanical  through 
over  emphasis  upon  apportionment.  Perhaps  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Board  can  be  of  special  help  to  the  churches  at  this 
point.  Its  work  is  so  entirely  altruistic  that  it  can  be 
advanced  only  on  the  basis  of  a  genuine  spiritual  appeal. 
Mechanical  and  mathematical  conceptions  of  benevolence 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


29 


would  be  absolutely  fatal  in  a  work  of  this  kind.  The 
more  should  we  seek  to  emphasize  its  relation  to  our  Lord’s 
command  and  program  for  the  world,  and  its  bearing  upon 
the  development  of  the  Christian  life. 

It  has  sometimes  been  said  that  the  reflex  influence  of 
the  foreign  work  is  as  great  as  the  service  rendered  abroad. 
However  that  may  be,  the  Board  should  render  a  spiritual 
service  to  the  churches  of  incalculable  amount.  The 
church  which  omits  to  contribute  to  the  Board  injures 
itself. 

LEADERSHIP  IN  THE  LOCAL  CHURCH 

The  Board  has  about  nine  hundred  Corporate  Members 
under  the  new  plan.  They  possibly  represent  six  hundred 
churches.  This  should  mean  that  the  Board  has  an  ac¬ 
credited,  responsible  agent  in  all  these  organizations.  Is 
it  unreasonable  to  expect  that  each  Corporate  Member  will 
consider  himself  in  that  light,  and  that  in  his  own  church 
he  will  seek  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  Board  by  per¬ 
sonal  giving,  by  pushing  the  educational  and  financial 
plans  of  the  Board,  by  cultivation  of  the  prayer-life  of 
the  people,  and  by  seeking  out  likely  young  men  and 
young  women  who  may  be  led  to  offer  themselves  for  the 
foreign  service? 

Through  the  Apportionment  Plan,  now  fairly  well  es¬ 
tablished,  such  efforts  will  at  the  same  time  advance  all 
our  interests  as  a  denomination,  and  there  should  be  no 
sense  of  competition  on  our  part.  Most  of  the  educa¬ 
tional  and  financial  plans  in  which  we  join  relate  to  all 
our  benevolent  societies,  so  that  what  is  done  for  one  is 
done  for  all. 

Certain  things  may  be  urged  as  widely  accepted  and 
as  necessary  to  an  efficient  church.  These  are:  A  Mis- 


30 


HAND  BOOK 


sionary  Committee,  representing  all  the  benevolent  in¬ 
terests  and  departments  of  the  church;  An  educational 
program  running  through  the  year,  involving  missionary 
sermons,  illustrated  lectures,  addresses  by  missionaries 
and  secretaries;  missions  in  the  Sunday  School;  Mission 
Study  Classes;  the  observance  of  special  missionary  occa¬ 
sions,  like  Christmas  and  Easter;  the  every  member 
canvass.  The  whole  range  of  missionary  activity  in  the 
local  church  should  be  studied  each  year,  and  suitable 
plans  made.  Here  almost  any  Corporate  Member  will 
find  a  fruitful  field. 

The  Every  Member  Canvass,  originating  with  the 
Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement,  has  come  to  be  recog¬ 
nized  far  and  wide  as,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  the 
best  method  of  financing  the  missionary  budget.  It 
involves  a  definite  goal  or  budget,  the  securing  of  pledges 
by  a  personal  canvass  conducted  by  a  large  number  of 
teams  working  two  by  two  on  a  given  Sunday  afternoon, 
and  the  gathering  in  of  the  pledges  throughout  the  year 
by  the  weekly  envelope  system.  Undoubtedly  there  are 
churches  with  plans  of  benevolence  well  established  where 
it  might  not  be  wise  to  undertake  this  method;  but  in  the 
vast  majority  of  cases,  by  common  consent,  this  is  the 
way.  Much  literature  on  the  subject  is  issued  by  the 
Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement  and  by  our  National 
Council. 


LEADERSHIP  IN  ECCLESIASTICAL  BODIES 

Delegates  to  the  National  Council  represent  District 
Associations  and  State  Conferences,  who  elect  them  also 
with  reference  to  Corporate  Membership  in  the  American 
Board.  They  are  the  ones  naturally,  to  advance  the 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


31 


interests  of  the  Board  in  the  Districts  and  States.  Lines 
of  activity  which  some  have  followed  are:  Seeing  that 
Foreign  Missions  are  strongly  represented  on  Association 
and  Conference  Programs;  visitation  of  the  churches  where 
no  interest  in  this  work  obtains;  correspondence  with 
pastors  and  laymen  in  non-contributing  or  small  contribut¬ 
ing  churches;  careful  attention  to  making  up  of  appor¬ 
tionment  figures  to  see  that  the  American  Board  does  not 
suffer  when  the  allotments  are  suggested  to  local  churches; 
arranging  with  the  District  Officers  of  the  Board  to  have 
missionaries  on  furlough  visit  the  churches  of  a  certain 
locality  or  district. 

One  Corporate  Member  in  a  western  state  had  the  work 
of  the  Board  so  much  on  his  heart  that  he  made  up  a  team 
for  the  visitation  of  the  leading  church  centers,  consisting  of 
himself,  another  pastor,  a  District  Secretary  of  the  Board, 
and  a  missionary.  With  this  team  he  toured  the  state, 
stirring  up  great  interest,  and  endeavoring  to  have  each 
church  assigned  a  definite  share  of  the  Board’s  work  under 
the  Station  Plan.  If  a  Corporate  Member  is  qualified 
for  such  work,  and  could  give  a  week  of  his  time  in  the 
service,  it  would  be  of  immense  value. 


ILLUSTRATED  LECTURES 

Let  us  speak  also  of  the  illustrated  lectures  which  can 
be  obtained  at  any  office  of  the  Board.  Some  thirty  in 
number,  these  lectures  cover  all  the  fields  of  the  Board, 
and  the  various  departments  of  the  work.  They  were 
used  over  two  thousand  times  the  past  year.  Some  of  the 
lectures  are  in  such  demand  that  they  are  booked  a  year 
in  advance.  Stereopticon  slides  are  selected  from  the  best 
material  available  and  are  accompanied  by  reading  notes 


32 


HAND  BOOK 


made  as  interesting  as  possible.  The  Board  is  seeking  to 
improve  its  lectures,  and  we  feel  that  we  can  commend  this 
method  of  education  to  all  our  members.  We  find  the 
lectures  particularly  effective  at  the  mid-week  prayer 
meeting. 


THE  AMERICAN  BOARD  AND  THE 
WOMAN’S  BOARDS 

The  relationship  between  these  is  frequently  misun¬ 
derstood.  Every  Corporate  Member  should  have  the 
matter  clearly  in  mind.  The  women  have  developed  their 
work  to  its  present  splendid  proportions  largely  because 
they  have  been  willing  to  assume  such  a  large  measure  of 
administrative  and  financial  responsibility.  These  organ¬ 
izations  are  not,  as  in  some  denominations,  mere  collect¬ 
ing  agencies,  turning  their  gifts  over  to  the  general  Board 
without  being  charged  in  any  manner  with  the  conduct  of 
the  work.  On  the  contrary’,  the  Woman’s  Boards  have 
been  asked  to  become  entirely  responsible  for  the  support 
of  the  unmarried  women  missionaries  and  for  the  conduct 
of  the  work  under  their  hands.  This  constitutes  about  one 
third  of  the  entire  task.  The  responsibility  is  a  grave  one, 
and  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  can  only  be  met 
by  the  untiring  and  self-sacrificing  labor  of  the  women  of 
our  churches.  The  success  of  this  plan  of  co-operation 
through  nearly  fifty  years  should  be  sufficient  answer 
to  those  who  criticise  minor  details  and  occasional  in¬ 
felicities. 

Each  Woman’s  Board  has  its  separate  Treasury,  collects 
its  own  gifts  and  legacies,  and  makes  its  own  appropria¬ 
tions.  These  appropriations  are  incorporated  with  those 
of  the  general  Board,  so  that  there  may  not  be  confusion 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


33 


on  the  field,  and,  for  a  similar  reason,  each  missionary  of 
a  Woman’s  Board  is  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board. 
The  arrangement  is  becoming  increasingly  efficient.  We 
trust  the  appeals  of  the  parent  society  and  of  the  co-op¬ 
erating  organizations  among  the  women  may  be  kept 
distinct,  so  that  each  may  receive  its  share  in  a  scheme  of 
well  balanced  benevolence. 


INTERDENOMINATIONAL  CO-OPERATION 

The  Foreign  Boards  of  the  various  communions  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  together  with  other  agencies 
carrying  on  foreign  work,  are  organized  for  consultation 
and  co-operation  in  the  “Foreign  Missions  Conference  of 
North  America’’  (Secretary,  W.  Henry  Grant,  156  5th 
Ave.,  New  York).  This  organization  has  been  in  existence 
for  twenty-three  years,  and  is  proving  to  be  a  large  factor 
in  promoting  efficiency  in  the  various  Boards,  as  well  as  in 
developing  union  movements.  It  meets  once  a  year  at 
Garden  City,  Long  Island.  The  Conference  between 
meetings  carries  on  its  business  mainly  through  two  com¬ 
mittees,  the  Committee  on  Reference  and  Council  and  the 
Committee  on  the  Home  Base.  The  former  committee 
considers  all  matters  relating  to  the  actual  conduct  of  the 
work  on  the  field,  and  conducts  such  negotiations  with 
Governments  as  require  joint  action.  It  also  acts  as  the 
Executive  Gommittee  of  the  Gonference.  The  Home 
Base  Gommittee  is  charged  with  direction  of  the  action  of 
the  Boards  In  all  matters  relating  to  the  home  constitu¬ 
ency.  The  Conference  also  conducts  the  Board  of  Mis¬ 
sionary  Preparation,  of  which  F.  K.  Sanders,  D.  D.,  is  the 
secretary.  This  Board,  of  recent  creation,  is  performing 
an  invaluable  service  in  promoting  special  missionary 


34 


HAND  BOOK 


training.  It  has  issued  a  series  of  pamphlets  on  the 
preparation  of  missionaries  for  each  field,  and  for  each 
department  of  the  work.  It  also  co-operates  with  theologi¬ 
cal  seminaries  and  missionary  training  schools  in  the 
development  of  suitable  courses  for  the  training  of  foreign 
workers. 

There  are  three  other  interdenominational  agencies 
which  have  proved  their  value  to  the  Foreign  Boards. 
These  are:  The  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  The 
Missionary  Education  Movement,  The  Laymen’s  Mis¬ 
sionary  Movement. 

The  Student  Volunteer  Movement  (25  Madison  Ave., 
New  York)  is  a  recruiting  agency  for  the  Foreign  Boards. 
Through  its  traveling  secretaries  it  reaches  all  the  colleges 
and  academies  of  the  country  every  two  years,  and  brings 
together  a  great  convention  of  student  volunteers  once  in 
four  years.  The  work  of  this  organization  is  becoming 
increasingly  valuable.  Since  the  supply  of  Congrega¬ 
tional  candidates  is  quite  inadequate  to  meet  the  needs  of 
our  missions,  we  are  obliged  to  depend  upon  those  coming 
to  us  from  other  bodies.  Without  the  aid  of  the  Student 
Volunteer  Movement,  candidates  from  these  other  bodies 
would  rarely  find  their  way  into  our  ranks.  In  our  own  Con¬ 
gregational  institutions,  also,  the  influence  of  the  Student 
Volunteer  Movement  is  found  to  be  of  great  value.  Natu¬ 
rally,  this  is  an  organization  which  deals  mainly  with  the 
secretaries  of  the  Home  Department,  but  its  servdce  should 
be  appreciated  by  a  wider  circle. 

The  Missionary  Education  Movement  (156  5th  Ave., 
New  York;  General  Secretary,  Mr.  Harry  Wade  Hicks)  is 
a  federation  of  the  Foreign  and  Home  Boards  for  the  pro¬ 
motion  of  missionary  education  at  the  home  base.  Its 
main  activities  are:  The  publishing  of  text  books  for 
Mission  Study  Circles  and  Sunday  Schools,  holding  Sum- 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


35 


mer  Conferences  for  the  training  of  teachers  and  workers, 
and  arranging  for  missionary  exhibitions. 

The  Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement  (i  Madison  Ave., 
New  York)  is  a  direct  outcome  of  the  Haystack  Centen¬ 
nial  of  the  Board  in  1910.  Following  our  great  meetings 
at  Williamstown,  Mass.,  around  the  Haystack  Monument, 
there  was  held  in  New  York  City  a  meeting  of  prominent 
laymen  of  the  different  denominations  to  devise  a  plan 
for  promoting  the  cause  of  Foreign  Missions  among  busi¬ 
ness  men  along  interdenominational  lines.  Out  of  this 
conference  arose  the  Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement. 
Throughout  the  churches  in  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
the  movement  has  been  singularly  blessed,  especially  in 
the  matter  of  enlarging  the  lay  constituency  of  the  Boards 
and  in  promoting  efficient  plans  of  church  beneficence. 
Of  late  it  has  enlarged  its  scope  to  include  Home  Missions. 


A  POLICY  OF  FRANKNESS 

The  Corporate  Members  may  count  upon  the  officers 
of  the  Board  and  the  Prudential  Committee  dealing  with 
them  in  an  entirely  frank  and  sincere  way.  This  perhaps 
should  not  need  mentioning,  but  we  occasionally  hear 
remarks  and  receive  letters  in  response  to  our  appeals 
based  upon  the  idea  that  the  real  condition  of  the  Board 
is  not  always  made  known  to  the  constituents.  The 
friends  of  the  Board  should  realize  that  in  a  work  of  such 
magnitude,  involving  operations  all  over  the  world,  and 
where  all  sorts  of  contingencies  are  liable  to  arise,  it  is 
impossible  for  the  Treasurer  to  know  exactly  how  we  stand 
at  a  given  time,  or  to  estimate  with  mathematical  preci¬ 
sion  the  outcome  of  the  year. 

The  Treasurer  reports  to  the  Prudential  Committee 


36 


HAND  BOOK 


periodically,  both  as  to  income  and  outgo,  and  toward  the 
close  of  the  fiscal  year,  he  presents  a  careful  estimate  of  the 
situation.  The  appeals  which  are  sent  out  to  the  Cor¬ 
porate  Members  and  other  friends  are  as  accurate  and  as 
candid  as  the  circumstances  allow.  Never  is  it  sought  to 
alarm  our  constituents  unduly.  If  there  is  encouragement, 
we  make  the  fact  known.  If  there  are  rocks  ahead,  we 
point  them  out.  It  should,  however,  be  kept  clearly  in 
mind  that  unless  the  Board  kept  appealing  in  the  most 
earnest  way  throughout  the  year,  and  especially  at  the 
end,  there  would  invariably  be  a  large  deficiency  when  the 
books  closed.  The  fact  that  we  come  through  successfully 
in  a  given  year,  after  solemn  warning  as  to  danger  of  debt, 
is  no  evidence  that  the  appeal  was  unwarranted.  Quite 
the  other  way.  Were  it  not  for  the  appeal,  with  its  note 
of  alarm,  there  would  have  been  a  debt  of  considerable 
size. 

At  all  times,  the  books  of  the  Board  and  the  records 
of  the  Prudential  Committee,  and  in  fact  all  the  on-goings 
of  the  organization  are  open  to  the  inspection  of  the  Cor¬ 
porate  Members.  The  officer's  of  the  Board  heartily  wel¬ 
come  calls  by  Corporate  Members  and  letters  of  inquiry, 
if  any  point  needs  clearing  up.  We  love  to  think  of  the 
Board  as  one  grand  partnership  with  our  missionaries  on 
the  field,  each  standing  to  his  task  as  God  has  assigned 
that  task. 


IN  CONCLUSION 

Three  generations  of  missionaries  abroad  and  givers 
and  workers  at  home  have  brought  the  American  Board 
to  its  present  strong  position.  Those  who  have  serv^ed  as 
Corporate  Members  in  the  past  have  regarded  the  position 
as  bringing  great  honor  and  great  responsibility.  It  is 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


37 


recognized  that  we  have  now  started  upon  a  new  era. 
The  full  development  of  the  representative  principle  has 
led  to  linking  up  the  Board  with  the  National  Council  and 
the  other  benevolent  agencies  of  the  Congregational 
churches.  The  possibilities  for  good  in  this  plan  are  great. 
But  there  are  dangers.  The  chief  danger  is  that  Cor¬ 
porate  Members  standing  for  so  many  denominational 
interests  will  not  be  inclined  or  able  to  render  effective 
service  to  any  one  interest.  The  old  idea  was  to  elect  to 
membership  those  who  have  shown  themselves  genuinely 
interested  in  Foreign  Missions.  That  this  theory  has 
proved  effective  on  the  whole,  none  will  deny.  The 
status  of  the  Board  today  attests  it.  Unfortunately  there 
was  involved  in  the  theory  the  assumption  that  most  of 
our  pastors  and  church  members  are  not  interested  in 
Foreign  Missions.  We  believe  the  time  has  come  when 
the  Church  at  large  should  be  trusted  with  this  enterprise, 
that  the  Church  is  ready  for  it,  and  that  the  Board  should 
gain  by  the  process.  There  should  be  more  general  giv¬ 
ing,  more  generous  giving,  and  more  educational  work 
under  the  new  plan.  It  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Corporate 
Members  to  bring  this  about.  Let  us  all,  officers,  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  Corporate  Members, 
work  in  close  harmony  to  this  end.  It  is  a  glorious  fel¬ 
lowship. 


APPENDIX 

MILESTONES  IN  THE  BOARD’S  HISTORY 

1802 — Great  revival  in  Yale  College.  Mothers  conse¬ 
crated  their  children  to  the  cause  of  missions,  among 
them  the  mother  of  Samuel  J.  Mills.  Lyman 
Beecher  said  that  “the  American  Board  originated 
in  the  revivals  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.” 

1806 — Meeting  of  five  students  of  Williams  College  under 
a  haystack  to  pray  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
world,  when  Mills  uttered  the  famous  words,  “We 
can  do  it,  if  we  will.”  “Then  and  there  began  the 
preparations  for  a  new  Turkish  empire,  a  consti¬ 
tutional  government  for  Japan  and  a  modernized 
China,”  said  Dr.  J.  L.  Barton,  at  Minneapolis,  1909. 

1810 — The  American  Board  organized  with  nine  commis¬ 
sioners  at  Bradford,  Mass.,  June  29,  by  the  General 
Association  of  Congregational  Ministers.  First 
meeting,  September  5,  at  the  home  of  Noah  Porter, 
Farmington,  Conn.,  with  five  present.  “Scarcely 
had  the  Board  gone  from  my  house,”  said  Mr. 
Porter,  “when  my  father,  seventy-four  years  old, 
said  to  my  wife,  ‘How  much  ought  I  to  give  to 
this  object?’  ‘Five  hundred  dollars,’  was  the 
instant  reply.  This  was  probably  one-fourth  or 
one-fifth  of  all  he  possessed.  ” 

1812 — Five  young  men  ordained  as  missionaries  at  the 
Tabernacle  Church,  Salem,  February  6 — Adoniram 
Judson,  Samuel  Nott,  Jr.,  Samuel  Newell,  Gordon 
Hall  and  Luther  Rice.  On  reaching  Calcutta,  they 
were  ordered  home  by  the  British  East  India  Co. 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


39 


Eight  commissioners  added  from  the  Presby¬ 
terian  Church,  at  the  annual  meeting  in  Hartford. 

Charter  obtained  from  the  State  of  Massachu¬ 
setts,  June  20,  after  strong  opposition  during  two 
sessions  of  the  Legislature.  The  objection  that  “  we 
have  no  religion  to  spare”  was  answered  by  saying, 
‘‘Religion  is  a  commodity  of  which  the  more  we 
export  the  more  we  have  remaining.  ” 

1813 —  First  mission  of  the  Board  started  in  Bombay, 
among  the  Marathas  of  W.  India,  by  the  party 
expelled  from  Calcutta. 

1814 —  American  Baptist  Union  formed  as  the  result  of 
Messrs.  Judson  and  Rice  having  changed  their 
views  on  baptism.  They  begin  work  in  Burma. 

1816 —  Second  mission  of  the  Board  opened  in  Ceylon. 

Henry  Obookiah,  a  waif  from  Hawaii,  found 
weeping  on  the  steps  of  Yale  College.  This  led  to 
the  organization  of  a  school  in  Cornwall,  Conn.,  for 
education  of  heathen  youth  in  the  United  States. 
Seven  nationalities  among  the  students.  (Fore¬ 
runner  of  Hampton  and  Tuskegee,  International 
College  in  Springfield  and  Schau  filer  Training  School 
in  Cleveland.) 

1817 —  Beginning  of  schools  and  industrial  missions  among 
the  Cherokees.  Extended  later  to  many  other 
tribes.  President  Madison  ordered  government 
assistance  in  making  explorations.  President  Mon¬ 
roe  visited  the  schools  in  1819. 

1818 —  Wesleyan  Methodist  Missionary  Society  formed, 
four  years  after  the  Baptists,  showing  that  our 
Board  had  started  a  movement  as  well  as  a  society. 

The  Panoplist,  organ  of  the  Board  started  in 


40  HAND  BOOK 

1805,  becomes  the  Missionary  Herald.  A  Mission¬ 
ary  Library  started. 

1819 —  Meeting  in  Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  October  15, 
when  Hiram  Bingham,  Asa  Thurston,  five  assist¬ 
ants,  the  wives  of  these  seven,  and  three  Hawaiian 
youths  educated  at  Cornwall,  were  organized  into  a 
church.  They  sailed,  October  23,  for  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  to  open  the  third  mission  of  the  Board. 

1820 —  The  Board  entered  Turkey  at  Smyrna,  not  far  from 
the  place  where  Paul  said,  “A  great  door  and  effec¬ 
tual  is  open  unto  me.”  Pliny  Fisk  and  Levi  Par¬ 
sons  first  arrivals.  Rev.  Daniel  Temple  set  up  on 
the  island  of  Malta  the  first  printing  press  seen  on 
the  Mediterranean.  He  had  three  presses,  with 
fonts  of  type  in  seven  languages. 

1822 —  Headquarters  of  the  Board  removed  from  basement 
of  Secretary  Evart’s  house  to  second  floor  of  a 
tenement  on  Cornhill.  Four  years’  later  to  base¬ 
ment  of  Lyman  Beecher’s  church  on  Hanover 
Street.  Erection  of  the  Missionary  House  in 
Pemberton  Square,  in  1838,  gave  a  permanent 
home  until  the  Congregational  House  was  occupied 
in  1873. 

1823 —  Opening  of  the  first  school  for  girls  in  Oodooville, 
Ceylon.  Object:  “ to  provide  suitable  companions 
for  the  graduates  of  the  (boys’)  seminary  at  Batti- 
cotta!”  Nearly  250  girls  were  in  schools  in  Ceylon 
at  that  early  period. 

Remarkable  revivals,  during  this  decade,  in 
Ceylon,  among  the  North  American  Indians  and  in 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  w'here  there  were  now  900 
schools  with  over  44,000  pupils.  The  king  and 
twelve  chiefs  among  the  first  to  learn  to  read. 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


41 


1830 —  China  entered  by  the  first  American  missionaries, 
Elijah  C.  Bridgman  and  David  Abeel. 

First  English  railroad  opened  from  Manchester 
to  Liverpool.  First  one  began  in  America  from 
Albany  to  Schenectady.  In  1837  steamers  began 
to  cross  the  Atlantic  (Cunard  Line)  and  the  P.  &  O. 
Line  to  India  was  established. 

1831 —  Opening  in  Constantinople  of  what  is  now  the 
Western  Turkey  mission.  Other  stations  occupied 
during  this  decade  were  Brousa,  Trebizond  and 
Erzroom.  Among  the  pioneers  were  William 
Goodell,  Cyrus  Hamlin,  William  Schauffler,  Elias 
Riggs,  Eli  Smith,  and  H.  G.  O.  Dwight. 

1833 —  Missions  started  in  Siam,  Singapore,  Persia  and  at 
Cape  Palmas,  West  Africa.  The  Chinese  Mission 
reinforced  during  this  decade  by  S.  Wells  Williams, 
Ira  Tracy  and  Dr.  Peter  Parker. 

1834—  Opening  of  the  Madura  Mission  by  missionaries  from 
Ceylon. 

Titus  Coan  and  William  Arms  explored  Pata¬ 
gonia.  Messrs.  Lyman  and  Munson,  seeking  to 
establish  a  mission  in  Sumatra,  killed  by  natives. 

1835 —  Opening  of  the  Zulu  Mission  by  Rev.  Messrs.  Grout, 
Lindley,  Champion,  Wilson,  Venable  and  Dr. 
Adams. 

1836 —  Opening  of  missions  to  Indians  in  the  Northwest- 
Of  fifty-one  Americans  who  occupied  the  vast  area 
now  covered  by  California,  Oregon,  Nevada,  Utah, 
New  Mexico,  Arizona,  Texas  and  Alaska,  thirty 
were  missionaries.  Marcus  Whitman  among  the 
pioneers.  He  and  his  wife  killed  (in  1847)  by 
Indians,  who  destroyed  the  Oregon  mission. 


42 


HAND  BOOK 


1837 — Great  financial  panic  in  United  States.  Large 
shrinkage  in  receipts  and  sixty-four  missionaries 
held  back.  In  Ceylon,  5,000  pupils  dismissed  from 
171  schools.  Nearly  all  the  schools  for  Indians  in 
the  United  States  disbanded. 

This  period  marked  by  extent  of  new  territory 
covered.  The  Board  now  had  twenty-five  missions, 
nine  among  North  American  Indians  and  365  work¬ 
ers  in  the  field,  not  including  native  helpers. 

1842 — China  opened  five  treaty  ports.  Canton,  Amoy, 
Foochow,  Ningpo  and  Shanghai,  at  close  of  the 
Opium  War.  Soon  occupied  by  twelve  missionary 
societies,  ours  among  them. 

1844 — First  telegraph  line  opened  between  Baltimore  and 
Washington  by  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse. 

1846 —  Difference  of  views  concerning  slavery  led  to  organ¬ 
ization  of  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
which  eventually  took  charge  of  our  foreign  work 
in  the  United  States. 

Protestant  Armenian  Church  founded  in  Con¬ 
stantinople. 

1847 —  Foochow  Mission  started  by  transference  of  two 
missionaries  from  Siam. 

1849 —  Central  Turkey  Mission  opened  in  Aintab.  Five 
stations  increased  to  twenty-four  within  twenty 
years.  Seat  of  Central  Turkey  College,  for  which 
a  Mohammedan  gave  the  site. 

1850 —  Twelve  printing  establishments,  with  publications  in 
thirty  languages,  now  in  operation.  Several  of  the 
Board’s  presses  have  been  a  source  of  revenue.  One 
in  Bombay  earned  $46,743  in  eight  years.  In  China 
alone,  present  issues  of  Christian  literature  exceed 
a  hundred  million  pages  annually,  just  from  mission 
presses. 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


43 


1852 — Micronesia  entered  by  Messrs.  Snow,  Sturges  and 
L.  H.  Gulick,  under  the  newly  organized  Hawaiian 
Board  of  Missions.  Four  years  later,  first  Morn¬ 
ing  Star  launched  to  carry  the  mail  and  supplies. 

1854 — Commodore  Matthew  G.  Perry  entered  Japan. 
North  China  Mission  opened  at  Peking. 

1857 — The  Dutch  Reformed  Church  withdrew  and  formed 
a  separate  Board.  Hon.  Theodore  P'relinghuysen 
resigned  the  presidency  of  our  Board  and  was  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  Mark  Hopkins,  who  served  until  his  death 
in  1887.  His  successors  have  been  Richard  S. 
Storrs,  Charles  M.  Lamson,  Samuel  B.  Capen,  and 
Edward  C.  Moore. 

Great  Sepoy  rebellion  in  India,  when  nearly  a 
thousand  English  were  killed.  Queen  Victoria 
assumed  control,  and  in  1877  was  proclaimed 
Empress  of  India. 

1859—  Message  received  over  the  new  Atlantic  cable,  at 
annual  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  saying:  “The  Chi¬ 
nese  empire  is  to  be  open  to  all  trade;  the  Christian 
religion  is  to  be  allowed  and  recognized;  foreign 
diplomatic  agents  are  to  be  admitted  to  the  empire.” 

1860 —  Semi-centennial  meeting  in  Boston.  Native  Chris¬ 
tians  of  Ceylon  sent  a  thank-offering  of  over  $500. 
Rev.  Samuel  Nott  only  survivor  of  the  original  band 
of  five  missionaries.  Receipts  for  fifty  years  were 
$8,632,315.  Over  1,200  workers  had  been  sent  out, 
39  missions  established,  18  languages  reduced  to 
writing,  millions  of  pages  printed  in  40  languages, 
149  churches  with  55,000  members,  and  369  schools, 
with  over  10,000  pupils,  established.  The  Sandwich 
Islands  and  some  of  the  Indian  tribes  were  recog¬ 
nized  as  Christian  nations. 


44 


HAND  BOOK 


1868 — Peaceful  revolution  in  Japan  which  ushered  in  the 
extraordinary  epoch  of  western  civilization. 

Woman’s  Board  of  Missions  organized  in  Bos¬ 
ton  and  Board  of  the  Interior  in  Chicago,  followed 
in  1873  by  Board  of  the  Pacific  in  San  Francisco. 

1870 —  Two  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  unite  and 
form  their  own  Board.  The  Persian,  Syrian  and 
Gaboon  missions,  and  two  among  North  American 
Indians,  transferred  to  them. 

1871—  'Formal  opening  of  the  Bulgarian  mission  signalized 
at  Eski  Zaghra  by  placing  upon  a  table  the  first 
bound  copy  of  the  Bible  in  that  language,  around 
which  kneeled  in  prayer  its  translator.  Dr.  Riggs, 
Dr.  E.  E.  Bliss  of  Constantinople  and  Secretary  N.G. 
Clark  of  Boston. 

1872 —  Opening  of  missions  in  Spain,  Austria,  Mexico  and 
Italy,  the  last  suspended  in  1874. 

1873 —  Japanese  removed  sign-boards  with  edicts  against 
Christianity  which  had  been  in  force  250  years. 

1879 —  Bequest  of  nearly  a  million  dollars  from  Asa  Otis. 

1880 —  W’ithin  four  years,  missions  were  opened  in  North 
Mexico,  in  West  Central  and  East  Africa,  in  Shansi, 
China,  and  Hong  Kong,  the  last  with  special  ref¬ 
erence  to  Chinese  returning  from  the  United  States. 

1885 — Seventy-fifth  Anniversary  in  Boston.  The  Board’s 
aggregate  receipts  from  the  beginning  over  $21,000,- 
000.  Number  of  church  members  nearly  95,000, 
and  about  400,000  pupils  under  instruction  in  Chris¬ 
tian  schools. 

Thirty-two  societies  in  America  now  engaged  in 
foreign  missionary  work. 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


45 


1886 — Student  Volunteer  Movement  began  in  United 
States.  “Has  any  such  offering  of  living  young 
men  and  women  been  presented  in  any  age,  in  any 
country,  since  the  day  of  Pentecost?”  asked  Dr. 
McCosh. 

1888 —  First  World’s  Missionary  Conference  in  London. 
Second  in  New  York  in  1900.  Third  in  Edinburgh 
in  1910. 

1889 —  Full  religious  liberty  proclaimed  in  Japan. 

1890 —  Banner  year  of  the  century  in  number  of  missionary 
societies  organized — 22  new  ones  formed.  Began 
a  decade  of  our  greatest  development  in  educational 
and  medical  missions.  Appeal  of  the  Shanghai 
Conference  for  1,000  new  missionaries  in  five  years 
more  than  responded  to. 

Mission  premises  on  Ponape  destroyed  by 
Spaniards.  Indemnity  of  $17,500  paid  four  years 
later  by  Spain,  but  missionaries  not  allowed  to 
return  till  Caroline  Islands  came  into  possession  of 
Germany. 

1895 — Terrible  Armenian  massacres.  Large  destruction  of 
mission  property  in  Harpoot  and  elsewhere.  Ten 
native  pastors  and  many  others  killed,  13  chapels 
and  22  schools  wrecked.  16,000  orphans  on  hands 
of  missionaries. 

1898 — Forward  Movement  inaugurated.  Object:  “to 
secure  direct  support  of  individual  missionaries  by 
single  churches  or  persons.” 

Admiral  Dewey  entered  Manila  Bay  and  the 
Philippine  Islands  became  United  States  territory. 
Four  years  later,  complete  civil  government  was 
established  under  William  H.  Taft  as  Governor. 


46  HAND  BOOK 

1900 — Boxer  uprising  in  China,  resulting  in  the  killing  of 
uncounted  multitudes  of  native  Christians,  nearly  one 
hundred  missionaries  of  all  Boards,  and  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  nearly  all  the  mission  property  in  North 
China.  Sixteen  American  Board  missionaries  and 
missionaries’  children  were  martyred,  together  with 
half  our  native  Christians  in  Shansi.  Today  all 
the  stations  have  been  rebuilt  out  of  indemnity 
funds,  the  ranks  of  the  workers  have  been  filled  and 
enlarged  and  there  are  more  than  twice  as  many 
native  Christians  as  in  1900. 

1906 — Celebration  of  the  Haystack  Centennial  at  North 
Adams  and  Williamstown. 

1910 — Celebration  of  the  Board’s  Centennial  at  Boston, 
Andover  and  Bradford.  Erection  of  monuments  at 
the  last  tw'o  places. 

1912 —  Celebration  of  the  Centennial  of  the  ordination  and 
sending  out  of  first  missionaries  in  Tabernacle 
Church,  Salem.  Following  the  course  of  the  original 
event,  five  theological  students  were  ordained  by  a 
great  council  and  set  apart  for  work  in  foreign  lands. 
These  students  sat  on  the  identical  settee  used  by 
Judson  and  his  companions  one  hundred  years 
before,  and  the  same  bass-viol  was  used  in  leading 
the  singing. 

1913 —  Meeting  of  the  Board  with  the  National  Council 
at  Kansas  City  where  it  was  decided  by  practically 
a  unanimous  vote  to  have  delegates  of  the  Council 
become  Corporate  Members  of  the  Board. 

1914 —  The  Great  War. 

1915 —  Unparalleled  Armenian  atrocities  in  Asia  Minor  by 
which  the  larger  part  of  this  race  was  deported  or 
killed.  Mission  stations  left  desolate. 


FOR  CORPORATE  MEMBERS 


47 


WHAT  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  HAVE  DONE 

They  have  made  the  name  of  Jesus  the  best-known  and 
best  loved  name  in  the  world. 

They  are  preaching  the  gospel  statedly  in  over  ten 
thousand  different  places. 

They  have  planted  in  the  leading  foreign  lands  the 
Church  of  Christ,  with  a  membership  of  2,644,170. 

They  have  created  a  great  system  of  Christian  schools 
and  colleges,  having  a  present  enrolment  of  over  a  million 
and  a  half  pupils. 

They  have  stimulated  the  governments  of  the  leading 
nations  of  the  East  to  establish  educational  systems. 

They  have  introduced  modern  medicine,  surgery,  and 
sanitation  into  the  darkest  quarters  of  the  globe,  by  means 
of  675  hospitals  and  963  dispensaries. 

They  have  been  the  principal  agents  of  relief  in  famines, 
and  have  made  scientific  investigation  of  the  causes  which 
lie  at  their  root. 

They  have  taught  people  habits  of  cleanliness  and  the 
laws  of  health,  thus  lessening  the  spread  of  plague. 

They  have  upheld  the  idea  of  the  dignity  of  labor  among 
those  who  regard  toil  as  menial. 

They  have  established  a  multitude  of  trade  schools  in 
which  development  of  Christian  character  keeps  pace  with 
growth  in  manual  skill. 

They  have  taught  the  use  of  modern  tools  and  agricul¬ 
tural  implements  and  thus  increased  the  efficiency  and 
wealth  of  many  nations. 

They  have  greatly  extended  the  markets  of  America 
by  creating  in  Oriental  peoples  a  thousand  appetites  which 
only  international  trade  can  supply. 

They  have  helped  to  abolish  human  slavery,  and  shown 
the  Christian  way  of  caring  for  the  aged,  orphans,  blind, 
deaf  mutes,  insane,  and  lepers. 


48 


HAND  BOOK 


They  have  lifted  women  from  a  condition  of  unspeakable 
degradation  and  trained  a  new  generation  of  Christian 
mothers,  wives,  and  daughters,  who  are  making  homes 
and  introducing  new  ideals  of  social  life.  '  „ ' 

They  have  translated  the  entire  Bible,  or  portions  of 
the  Scriptures,  into  500  languages  and  dialects,  distributing 
last  year  alone  9,272,21 1  copies  of  the  Word  of  God. 

They  have  reduced  many  strange  tongues  to  writing  and 
have  created  a  literature  for  whole  races,  producing  annu¬ 
ally  a  vast  amount  of  good  reading  in  the  shape  of  books, 
hymnals,  and  papers  for  all  ages. 

They  have  transformed  the  people  of  the  Fiji  Islands,  the 
New  Hebrides,  Melanesia,  and  other  island  groups  from 
cannibals  to  civilized  human  beings. 

They  have  enabled  Bulgaria  to  rise  to  the  level  of  national 
independence. 

They  have  furnished  the  incentives  which  made  possible 
Japan’s  peaceful  evolution  from  feudalism  to  constitutional 
government,  and  from  opposition  to  Christianity  to  the 
granting  of  full  religious  liberty. 

They  have  been  the  main  agent  in  the  extraordinary 
awakening  of  the  people  of  China  by  which,  turning  their 
backs  on  the  history  of  4,000  years,  they  have  adopted 
Western  ideas  in  government,  education,  and  commerce, 
and  are  showing  an  amazing  readiness  to  receive  the  Gospel 
of  Christ. 

They  have  started  a  movement  in  Korea  which  is  going 
forward  with  such  unparalleled  rapidity  that  this  nation 
bids  fair  to  become  Christianized  within  a  generation. 

They  have  held  the  home  churches  true  to  the  essential 
purpose  of  the  Gospel,  have  broadened  their  outlook, 
deepened  their  devotion,  and  demonstrated  the  universal 
and  all-conquering  character  of  Christianity. 


